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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27197185">Brave</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonjuice/pseuds/dragonjuice'>dragonjuice</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>End of the World, Other, Reader-Insert, Zombie Apocalypse</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 08:08:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,097</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27197185</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonjuice/pseuds/dragonjuice</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>COMING SOON.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>You/Original Character</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Brave</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hi! This is one of my first published reader-inserts ever. This book is completely unedited and far from perfect, so please bare with me throughout this journey. If you have constrictive criticism, plot ideas, or anything else related to my writing, please feel free to comment or message me and I will get back to you as soon as possible. Otherwise, enjoy the story!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I follow him through the woods, along the well worn path I’ve walked a hundred times before.</p><p>But this time it’s different.</p><p>He crouches down, his eyes meeting mine. Puts a hand on my shoulder. There are dark circles under his eyes. Mine, too.</p><p>His shoulders stiffen, like he’s trying to keep himself from crying, and he pulls me into a hug. “I love you, Y/N.”</p><p>“What’s wrong, dad?” My voice is muffled by his arms.</p><p>I pull away from his grasp, searching his eyes for any answers. Eventually, he just sighs, ruffling my hair. “Hey, kiddo. Let’s head back to camp, all right? We have a pretty big hike to make in the morning.”</p><p>And that’s when it happens.</p><p>A pack of wild dogs, five of them, step out onto the path. Their ribs are showing; the winter season must have made them desperate enough to go after humans.</p><p>A low growl erupts from one of the dog’s throats, cutting into the frozen air like a knife. And then came a terrible flurry of claws, ripping at him, tearing at him until there was nothing left. Stripping him of everything he was.</p><p>I stumble backward, tripping over a rock on the path behind me. Pain shoots up my arms, but I am too focused on my father and the dogs to care. One perks up and turns toward me, blood and torn flesh hanging from its snout.</p><p>They were still hungry.</p><p>I get up and run. Away from the trail, away from the dogs, away from my father. Away from those horrible memories.</p><p>I blink and snap back to reality.</p><p>There’s no use thinking about him now, but I can’t get the image of the dogs out of my mind, of their frenzied barks, of their wild stares.</p><p>I’m already dead. I’ve been doomed from the start, ever since that day. Without him, I couldn’t fend for myself.</p><p>Everything comes in a haze now, like a thick fog around my head. I think it’s the virus finally setting in, taking the last of my sanity with it. My throat aches for water, but my body is too tired to move. I couldn’t stand up if I tried. I am drifting between life and death. Consciousness and unconsciousness.</p><p>The next time I wake, I hear footsteps. Soft and quick, like a leopard on the prowl.</p><p>The beam of a flashlight cuts through the dark, momentarily blinding me. I put an arm up to block it out, turning my head away from the harsh light.</p><p>A girl steps into the room, lowering her flashlight and giving me a worried look. Her skin is dark, blending into the shadows like ???. Her hair is a mess of brown curls, but even in the darkness, I can make out streaks of amber and gold amongst them.</p><p>I reach for my rifle, but I can barely move my arm without wincing.</p><p>She kneels down beside me, switching her flashlight off. I must flinch, because she stops and raises her arms in the air. “Hey, hey. I won’t hurt you. Are you all right?”</p><p>“Yeah, I’m fine,” I mumble as she puts a hand on my forehead, checking to see if I have a temperature. She’s cold to the touch, but it’s a welcome change from the dry heat of the gas station.</p><p>“I’m Tierney. Come on, let me help you up. Let’s get you something to drink. You’re not infected, are you?”</p><p>Heat rises to my face, and all I can manage is a nod as she puts an arm around my shoulder to hold me up. I don’t know why it bothers me. Maybe it’s because I’m being so weak, so vulnerable, around someone I barely knew. Just the thought of it made me want to bury my face in my chest and never come out.</p><p>“Here,” Tierney grabs a water bottle out of her bag and presses it to my lips.</p><p>I choke. It’s the first water I’ve had in days, and as much as I need to drink, it hurts. A sick feeling rushes through my entire body, and it takes all my willpower not to spit everything back up.</p><p>“Woah, hey. It’s okay.” She pulls the bottle away, rubbing my back in gentle circles. “You’re okay. Tell me when you want to try again.”</p><p>“I’m fine,” I cough.</p><p>“No, you’re not. Don’t pull that shit with me. If you were really fine, you wouldn’t be sitting in the back of a gas station choking on water. Now come on,” Tierney says and lifts the bottle to my lips again.</p><p>It goes down more easily this time, but it still leaves me gasping for air as I try to speak. “Thanks.”</p><p>“What’s your name?” She asks, crossing her legs. “You do have a name, right?”</p><p>“I’m Y/N,” I push myself up against the wall with a grunt.</p><p>She's wearing a ragged green raincoat over her shirt. It's covered in mud, but she doesn’t seem to mind. She sees me looking at it and breaks into a grin. “It was my little sister’s. She let me take it to work.” Tierney pauses, her brows furrowing. “You know, before all of this happened.”</p><p>“Oh,” I whisper. “Is she… dead?”</p><p>Tierney sighs, looking out the window, her mind a million miles away. “Yeah. Last spring. It was… my fault.” She pulls her jacket around her knees, as if trying to shield herself from the rest of the world. “We were living in this old motel. We were out of food. I had to go find some, and by the time I made it back to her… well, she was already gone.”</p><p>“Zombies?” My breath catches in my throat.</p><p>Tierney just nods.</p><p>“I’m sorry.” I want to put an arm around her, to comfort her, to tell her about what happened to my father, but I can’t. Not yet.</p><p>We sit there in silence until Tierney gets to her feet, offering me a hand. “Come on. I have a truck outside. I’ll take care of you. We can travel together.”</p><p>The question takes me by surprise. “Are you sure? I mean…”</p><p>“Yeah. I’m sure. Come on.” She pulls me to my feet, wrapping my arm around her shoulder to help me stay upright. “I’ll come back for your bags.”</p><p>“No need,” I shake my head, grabbing my rifle with my free arm. “There was nothing left in it, anyway."</p><p>And so we walk out of the gas station together, one step at a time, to her truck.</p><p>I don’t look back.</p>
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